Bible Strands
1 Kings 8:43
then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Solomon addresses God during the temple dedication, petitioning for divine attention to extend beyond Israel to include foreign nations. He speaks this request at the moment the ark is brought into the newly built house.
The words — תִּשְׁמַע (tish.Ma') = you will hear and מְכוֹן (me.Khon) = place. These terms frame the petition for God to listen from heaven, His designated dwelling place, and act on the foreigner's request.
The thread — The expectation that nations will know and fear God's name runs through Psalms 86:9 and Psalms 102:15. The temple as a geographic focal point for prayer connects directly to 1 Kings 8:42 and 1 Kings 8:44, while the universal recognition of God's power parallels the declaration in 1 Samuel 17:46.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that God's name and authority are intended for all peoples, not exclusively Israel. It demands that worshipers treat the temple as a designated place of prayer where divine response is tied to the revelation of God's character to the nations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 17:46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
- Psalms 86:9 All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
- Psalms 102:15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.
- 2 Kings 19:19 And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
- Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
- Psalms 67:2 that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
- Isaiah 11:9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.
- Joshua 4:24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”
- 2 Chronicles 6:33 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
- Psalms 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.